The Next Chapter…

I am really DREADING the next couple of months at work. Now that they’ve fired the publicist and the staff writer has officially quit, the original power of 3 has dwindle down to just me, the design coordinator.

Naturally, until they find someone else to fill those positions, the slack will have to be picked up by a few other people in the office… knowing how things run, the grunt work will go to me. I have a feeling it’s going to be a lot more work than I can handle ON TOP of my daily duties.

God forbid I don’t complete something on time, screw something up because I’ll be rushing, or cry for help… I’ve asked for help before and it’s ended up as a negative blow in my performance review. I’m not going to say ANYTHING just yet, I’m going to let it ride and struggle. What else can I do??

It's Fine?

So, I ended up driving that stalling piece of shit to New Rochelle, and miraculously, it seemed fine on the way there, but I still wasn’t satisfied. It took them until the end of the day to call me at work to tell me the one thing I didn’t want to hear: they couldn’t find ANYTHING wrong. I must have had a premonition earlier, because I knew it would happen. I just thought it I’d hear it from White Plains Honda.

I refused to take “we couldn’t find anything” for an answer. Hell the fuck no. They offered to keep the car one more day to run more tests on it; I said yes, BUT despite the extra day of diagnostics and test driving, the car wouldn’t perform its little act as it did for me. Apparently, White Plains Honda had erased all the codes that were in the car’s engine. When something in the car fucks up, it records these little codes that mean specific things in its computer so that when the mechanic pulls them out, he or she can diagnose the issue. Well, they weren’t in my car and the papers from White Plains Honda I gave to New Rochelle weren’t admissible.

So they STILL couldn’t find a damn thing wrong. Since I had something else to do after work, I had my dad take it home, who said it ran like a champ. When I took the car to work today it was PERFECTLY FINE. No stalling, no engine light, no close calls.

What I don’t understand is, a car doesn’t spend an entire week stalling for no reason.

In other news, the staff writer at my job had his last day today. Apparently Manhattanville PAID his ass to leave. A lot of sketchy business goes on there and it was a sad day today. I basically have 1 more good friend left at work I hang out with.

We learned yesterday that a co-worker has lung cancer. I still hate 2005 for the record.

I Hate 2005!

Well, I got good news and I got bad news. I took off work today and took my [new used] car to the White Plains Honda service shop today after I got the okay that it would be okay to bring it there despite the purchase of the car being from New Rochelle.

All day, I was so afraid that they wouldn’t find anything wrong. To my relief, well somewhat of a relief, they just called me back and told me that they found a NUMBER of things wrong. I didn’t ask what specifically, but the salesperson suggested that I not only should take it back to the original Honda dealer, but that I might have to get a new one! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT THA FUCK?!

Whhhhhh… … … with only 2,000 miles on it since it’s purchase, it already had a number of things wrong-and I asked again if they can just go ahead and fix it-they suggested firmly that I take it back and get it looked at. MOTHERFUCKERS…

New Rochelle is about 20 minutes away. I can’t drive that stalling piece of shit there! 2005 FUCKING SUCKS!!

5-Disc Changer DJ

Saturday was the birthday and 10th year anniversary of Manhattanville’s president and I was “nominated” to be the DJ for the night. I didn’t mind doing it as it would be my first time performing in front of a live audience and I missed doing my college radio show so much. It was kind of a last-minute decision a week before the party, but something that needed to be done.

The original plan was to have the party in 2 places. Downstairs in the Pub, a bar and me spinning live would kick off at 8:00; kind of like a pre-party type situation. Then, by 9:30, we’d move people upstairs for live band performances, videos and a roast.

I left early to avoid the worst of the nor’easter and trudged my way over to campus in the snow. I brought some sleeping gear in case I had to stay over, but nonetheless I was ready to go.

Things began to fall apart when BOTH of the bands schedule to perform cancelled (no surprise), leaving no entertainment for the upstairs portion of the night. Therefore, the few people running the event decided to have me DJ all night. 9Mistake number 1, not having a postpone date. It probably just should have been cancelled).

For some unclear reason, at the last second, they decided to cancel the whole downstairs idea, move the bar and the main party upstairs… not only was I disappointed, but I was also irritated. They told me all week that I would DJ live, but the DJ equipment was downstairs and only downstairs. (Mistake number 2, not sticking to the plan).

The only way I could DJ is if we brought the equipment upstairs… well, after a 2-hour fiasco of trying to do just that, it turned out that the equipment didn’t work very well nor would it be possible to have a live DJ upstairs. 2 hours wasted; I was so ‘effing disgusted and annoyed.

Weeks prior to, there was a huge ordeal over this DJ thing and I was willing to do them a favor, although I was never formally asked to do it, more so volunteered. Then all of a sudden, they didn’t wanna do it.

Luckily, there was a 5-disc changer upstairs, so I decided to throw in some pre-mixed compilation CDs so it would SOUND like a DJ was there and to make things easier.

ANOTHER monkey wrench came flying from left field: I was supposed to be done playing music by 9:30pm, but was told to keep going until 12pm! So much for having a break and being able to socialize.

Of course I would have to sit there to make sure no one messed with the damn thing humiliated sitting there doing NOTHING. Not only were the pauses in between songs (for the unmixed CDs) brutal, but the pause in between DISCS was HORRIFYING! Bad, bad, bad news. I had to get people to MC while I changed CDs, the fucking thing was so slow!

It didn’t help that all the invitations, promotional materials, and e-mails sent to hundreds and hundreds of people said “Tunes by DJ Kaitou aka Brandon Mosley” when I wasn’t actually DJing. I felt like a fake, a fraud and a loser. I downed 2 full glasses of champagne which got me twisted enough not to care and it numbed the embarrassment.

People were coming up to make requests, thinking I was spinning live, but I couldn’t fulfill them cuz let’s face it-you can’t do that with a 5-disc changer. Considering I play a lot of house music, people were begging for hip hop and pop and kept asking for different kinds of music all night. I felt really bad because I couldn’t fulfill any requests and they were probably all thinking I was a phony. I felt like a fucking dumb ass for the rest of the night.

On the bright side of things, if I wasn’t there, there would have been no music at all… so at least I saved the night in some way. I had to save the dance floor by forcing a limbo competition so people started to loosen up then. Everybody looked like they had fun so maybe it wasn’t too bad… but by 12am, people were so drunk and riled up that they wouldn’t shut up during the roast and video. That was nearly a disaster in itself. If people had stuck to the damn plan, it would have been FINE!

That is the last time I offer them ANY of my time like that. I don’t even feel like I had a weekend! Let's think about this: I had to DJ from a 5-disc CHANGER!!

Fired

Our senior publicist (37 yr. Black male), notorious for his harassment claim against my boss (46 yr. Caucasian female) who is the director of marketing and communications, was fired on Friday. His claim against my boss created a big disturbance at Manhattanville and especially within our department. The Human Resources department determined his claims unfounded.

Our final team member, besides me, was our staff writer (28 yr. Caucasian male), and all 4 of us created the public relations team for Manhattanville…The team broke apart after the claim saga died down and after the publicist was taken from the direction of my boss.

The staff writer, the publicist and our events planner became the breakfast club. We were all great friends and ate lunch together everyday, despite all the troubles that were brewing.

With my boss and the publicist not getting along and despising each other with a passion, in a deep pit of disgust and bitterness, the publicist became rather aggressive and explosive, getting caught up in open arguments and disputes as well as openly trashing Manhattanville. Well, I’m not saying what he had to say wasn’t true, but after a while, he kind of took pride in coming into work late and coming and going as he pleased. After his harassment claim, I believe the higher powers kept a close eye on him and were documenting reasons to fire him.

The president of the school came down on Friday at 9 and 9:30 in the morning looking for him and he wasn’t in. I think it was the straw that broke the camel’s back. They pretty much fired him on the spot. From what he (the publicist) told me, they said his firing had nothing to do with the harassment claims, but instead it just “wasn’t working” out.

From what I hear, he apparently stormed down 3 flights of stairs openly talking to himself about his being fired and how he hates the institution. Pissed off, he storms back to his office, slams a couple of doors and begins to clean out his office. Meanwhile, I had some guests and we all looked at each other in surprise. I figured he was having another argument with someone, but when I went out to see what was going on, I saw 3 security officers there. I was afraid some office violence was occurring and I ran to someone’s office to find out what the hell was going on.

I was told he got FIRED. I couldn’t believe it!! In a sense, I shouldn’t have been surprised (no offense to him), but I was. Then, I got scared myself and feared for my job too. What if I came in late one day?

It was official… he packed up his stuff, made a scene, and left for good. To make matters worse, I had to DJ for the president’s birthday and anniversary party the following day!

Engine Light

Don’t you know it ALWAYS get worse before it gets better?

Halfway to work on Monday, my car shifts gears while going up a hill, as automatics normally do, but then it did it again right after, which didn’t seem normal, but I didn’t think anything of it at the time. That day was cold as HELL, so I figured that’s just what it was.

As I began coasting down the hill, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that my engine light was blinking. I COULDN’T BELIEVE MY EYES… A slight wave of panic came over me and I just prayed to God that I’d make it to work before anything bad happened. Of course, 20 feet in front of me, was a line of traffic spanning for about a quarter of a mile-just my fucking luck.

As my car was idling in traffic, it starts jerking and shaking slightly. Right then and there, I KNEW something was wrong, but didn’t know how bad.

Come the end of my work day around 6:00, I get back in my car and the engine light is still on; steady at first, but then starts blinking. Pulling out of Manhattanville’s campus, I hit a red light, where I normally would make a left.

My car begins jerking and shaking even worse than it did earlier. I just NEW something bad was about to happen, but before I could pull over when the light turn green, my car stalls in the middle of the road. I laughed in shock and like any normal person would do, I tried to start my car up again… it wouldn’t.

All the lights on my dashboard were on, my headlights, heat and radio so I knew it wasn’t the battery. I began to freak out as people were obnoxiously honking behind me, paying no attention to my fucking HAZARD LIGHTS. The assholes just drove around me, not one seemed interested in helping me.

Panicked, I called my brother, Darren; the one person I knew would come quickly to help. 15 minutes later he shows up and figures out that I can start the car if I give it gas, but it won’t stay running if I didn’t keep my foot on the accelerator. That would be the only way to move it.

I refused to drive it as it would cause problems for breaking. We just decided to have him put the piece of shit out of the way and come back later that night to have him drive it home. I decided not to deal with the tow truck and the car dealer until his gas station could look at it for a free diagnosis and at least steer me in the right direction…

Well, Darren took it to the gas station the next day and they couldn’t find ANYTHING wrong… I did some research on the Internet to find out why that bullshit happens and it seems like there is something going on with the fuel system. I bought dry gas hoping it would solve the problem, and it seems to have helped but I still don’t trust it… isn’t your tachometer supposed to read 1 or 1.5 when idling? Mine reads .5 or a 1 if it’s being good.

And by the way, if you didn’t know, this is my new car that I haven’t owned for 3 months yet!

Educational Dilemma

I'm starting to get a little pressure from my mom to further my education at Manhattanville with a Masters of Science in Marketing and Communications. Since I work there, I can get my education for free.

While part of me knows I should probably just do it, the rest of me just isn't ready to go back to school. I don't want to deal with homework and tests and papers again. I hate studying, I hate reading, and I hate writing. Those three things do not appeal to me at all.

The classes are like once a month and probably all day. I can probably deal, but the part that scares me is how inflexible and unreasonable my boss can be. Accusing me of not putting in enough time to my already crunched 37-hour work week back in November, I doubt she'll take "I have class" as an excuse.

Oh I can see it now. She'll be happy (at first) that I'm furthering my education, but then turn around and say it's getting in the way of my work. Although I already work 38-40 hours a week, I'll probably have a ton of research papers and exams to prepare for on top of that. I'm probably being selfish right now, but I don't want to put that kind of pressure on myself.

I'm not sure marketing and communications is right for me either. I want to be a designer. I want the art and the hands on, not the writing and the management... but if I'm going to be sucessful, maybe I have to just suck it up and deal with the damn class?

I'd get my degree in 18 months, but I no longer want to stay at this Godforsaken job as long as I had originally thought. 18 more months of this and I might not be well. I really don't know what to do. Am I stupid if I pass up on this opportunity?

Jury Duty

Considering how shitty my luck is, OF COURSE I would get a jury duty summons ordering me to report in on the 1st of January at 8:30 in the Goddamn morning. Could they have picked a BETTER TIME to give me a jury duty summons?

I knew I would have to report in for sure. I didn’t even have to call in to confirm to be sure, but I did anyway. With every bout of shitty luck, there is always a chance…

Well, my chances were slim.

I go in early on Monday, like a respectable person should. I put in 8 hours worth of time in the meter at the rate of 1 quarter per half hour. Of course the damn summons doesn’t say where you’re supposed to go-there are 2 courthouses in the City of White Plains. I had gone to the wrong building and after wasting time going through a security check IN the wrong building, I had to leave and literally run 2 blocks to the other courthouse.

It takes about an hour before 125 people to fill the room. Everyone else seemed to have postponed their summons because they seemed to be short. I decided to just get mine OVERWITH so I decided to just accept my summons.

After about 2 hours of waiting, they begin calling names for a criminal case, which they informed us could last for 5 or more days in most cases. Right then and there, I just KNEW I would be called and sure enough, I was!

A couple more hours pass and we are told around 11 that the attorneys and judge are “still deliberating” and that we were excused for recess until 2:00. I was so fucking mad, I COULD HAVE BEEN SLEEPING THAT WHOLE TIME! Goddamn it.

I get myself lunch, go home and return before 2:00. Luckily, I found a meter that had 5 hours on it. I was early again so there were only a few people in the room but the Deputy of Jurors informs us that the attorneys are STILL not ready and that we have to return at 12:30 the following day. WHAAAAA-THA FUCK?!

At 12:15 the next day, I put in another 8 quarters into the meter… I come in and sit down. After 2 hours of waiting, they tell us to go upstairs to the 2nd floor. 45 minutes of more waiting, the judge calls us into a courtroom. I got stuck next to a stankin’ ass man. As I held my breaf, we are told that we are excused because of the “newness of the courtroom” and the “inconvenience of adjusting to it”… … … WHAT the FUCK does that mean??

You know I was mad… but I HELD IT IN. I wasted so much money on parking (simply because the City of White Plains is a scam!) and it turns out after all that change and time of sitting around staring into space was for NOTHING. I missed 2 full days of work – SPEAKING OF WHICH, my boss is SUCH A BITCH, she totally ignored the fact that I had a summons and she kept piling on the work, most of which has to be done THIS WEEK. Although I am excused from jury duty for the next 6 years, I gotta deal with trial at work… under the management of a tiresome, irrational, moronic, BITCH.

Kabuki Returns for the New Year!

Happy New Year! Thank GOD 2004 is over and in the past. It’s one year I definitely won’t miss! Now that it’s official over, to my surprise, the drama and bullshit CONTINUES in the real world. You won’t believe some of the shit I have been through in the past 7 months… REALLY. I’m not going to go into detail, but I’ll sum it all up.

A couple of weeks after graduation, I got a job as a design coordinator for Manhattanville College in the Marketing and Communications department. The woman I interviewed with would later become my boss. Little did I know, what she told me I would be doing would change and not necessarily for the better.

My “team” would consist of a publicist and a staff writer, and the three of us would become the “Public Relations Department” under her direction. We bonded really well and became more of a trio than a “team.”

Things took a drastic nose-dive when the publicist had grown to really despise Manhattanville, it’s president, our boss, and other people in the department. Things took a nose dive.

You see, my department is not only understaffed, but mismanaged and mistreated. *Certain* individuals can’t operate under pressure, others barely put in a full day’s work – I’m talking coming in late and leaving early for whatever reason, and not to mention, those who berate and scream at others in the department.

It’s a very hostile and tense work environment. There is no sense of community and no reason to trust anyone. There is backstabbing and sabotage. Luckily, I manage to fly under the radar most of the time, but I do get hit on occasion.

On the bright side of things, I bought a new car and got a new cat so the home isn’t too bad right now! I don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing yet, but I have a jury duty summons on Monday. What a great way to start off the year!